Halogenated organics, including volatile and non-volatile chlorinated, fluorinated and chloro-fluoro hydrocarbons, represent a considerable health and environmental risk. The destruction of these compounds normally requires high temperature oxidation in the presence of a supported catalyst such as chromium oxide supported on alumina or other types of supports. Hunter et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,513 has reported a process using a fluid bed reactor and chromium oxide catalyst impregnated on alumina for a process for burning catalytically chlorinated hydrocarbons including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). His apparatus requires a continuously fluidized bed of catalytic particles and is accomplished at a temperature range between 460.degree. C.-745.degree. C.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,024 Wolford described the oxidation of saturated aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride over a molecular sieve catalyst in the temperature range between about 180.degree. C. to about 400.degree. C. The catalyst was made of any type of molecular sieve type catalyst including such catalysts as zeolites and other shape selective or shape restricted catalytic compositions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,806, Hyatt teaches the use of a copper exchanged zeolite in a process to recover chlorine values from essentially perchlorinated hydrocarbons. This reaction involves the controlled oxidation of the chlorinated hydrocarbons in such a way as to optimize the recovery of chlorine gas. The invention was primarily geared toward the recovery of chlorine from the bottoms (high boiling by-products) produced during certain chlorination reactions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,807, Johnston described the use of chromium impregnated supports for a process to recover chlorine values from chlorinated organics especially perchlorinated organics. Like Hyatt, this process was geared toward recovering chlorine primarily from perchlorinated hydrocarbons in a temperature range from below 500.degree. C. or typically below 450.degree. C.
The above catalysts and processes involve either the use of exchanged zeolites for oxidation of chlorinated organics or the use of metal-exchanged zeolites or metal-impregnated zeolites for the recovery of chlorine from essentially perchlorinated hydrocarbons. Further, the above processes dealt mostly with fluidized reactors and fiuidizable catalysts. Therefore, the catalysts were normally in the form of pure zeolite powders or finely divided particulates not suitable for fixed bed reactors.
Although zeolites (U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,024) were used to destroy chlorinated organics, exchanging the natural catalytic sites of a zeolite can so alter the catalytic behavior of the zeolite as to shut down reaction pathways that would have occurred without exchange. Thus, the mere fact that the unexchanged zeolite could be used to destroy chlorinated hydrocarbons, albeit less efficiently compared with the catalysts of the present invention, in no way suggests that exchanged zeolites would function analogously.
While the prior art does disclose several catalyst compositions which could be used to destroy volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the prior art does not teach how to selectively influence the composition of the effluent gas stream of the process other than by means of temperature control. To date, the need has existed for a catalytic method which can alter the CO/CO.sub.2 ratio in the effluent gas without resorting to temperature variations. The need to control the CO/CO.sub.2 ratio is important for example, in synthesis gas (syngas) applications which may exist downstream of the halogenated organic oxidation reactor. Syngas applications would favor high CO/CO.sub.2 ratios, while other applications may require the ratio to be minimized.